Look at the picture above and tell me if it is not beautiful; I cracked the drapes open so I could read my bible and the light landed on those verses, I hope you can read them; just in case here they are:John 6:28-29 Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." I don't think that is a coincidence.
Today is the first morning in a long time that I did not wake up thinking about people that have hurt me, or about all the people I have hurt by my actions and words; thank you God. I bet it happens to any one; you wake up and your mind starts racing away, like a train out of control, no brakes dude; sooner or later the train has to stop, right? It will either run out of fuel or it will derail and crash; in my case it usually crashes against the word of God. That's the best train stop, the word of the Almighty.
I don't know what I would do without the word of God; that bible that sits open on my table; I would be lost in darkness without it, lost I tell you. There is no better way to renew my mind and my heart than the words of Jesus; words like "Let not your heart be troubled", and "No one can snatch you out of my Father's hand, I and the Father are One"; those are some comforting words to me.
"In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world", Jesus said, many times I wondered what that meant, but everything became clear when I read this in 1st John: "Who is he who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?"; faith, believing, makes me an over-comer of this world.
What does it mean? What is it to overcome the world? The world is the system of philosophy and empty deceit that rules this plane of existence; the pull and the allure of the prince of the power of the air, as Paul puts it, it is basically the crap that is being shoved down people's throats by cable T.V. and magazines, and the internet, and the media in general; it is all about being successful and having lots of money, and lots of sex, and looking good, and wearing nice expensive clothes and having big houses on the top of hills, and fast 1/4 of a million dollar sport cars, and getting loaded with alcohol and drugs and partying....you get the point.
Those who have overcome the world are not subject to the pull of the world; overcomers of the world see beyond this reality; beyond the fallacy of being satisfied with 'things'; overcomers live in a superior sphere of existence, in an unseen reality out of the reach of the physical senses. We live as pilgrims, we are just passing through; we don't belong in this place, and we patiently wait for a city with foundations not made with hands and tools.
Is this boring to you? Maybe it is, but not to me. I find a lot of joy thinking these thoughts, it brings me joy to think that a worm like me could actually live forever in the presence of Jesus; that is what makes this kind of thinking an elating kind of thinking, and I do think a lot by the way; in fact that is all I do, think and think and think; I live in this world made of thoughts. I have tried not to think for an extended period of time and I find it impossible, so if I must think, I will think, or at least try to think, about things that bring me joy.
That brings me to what I was saying at the beginning; why is it that sometimes I wake up thinking about the past? What I mean is that there is really no reason to start the morning thinking about crap; it is a mystery to me. What triggers that train of thought? I have no idea; but what I know is that some days are worse than others; and I find that I can't control it, it just happens, and yeah, it is a horrible thing to me, it actually makes me sick.
As I said, the only way to stop it is by reading and thinking the word of God; I find no other way to do it. Maybe it happens to you too, I don't know, what I know is that if you read the bible you will soon find your mind at peace again. Don't believe me? I say try it, prove me wrong. Of course this is not applicable to you if you are not regenerated; if God has not yet given you faith and His Spirit, you are still under the course of this world and you cannot overcome it, it is impossible.
Rom 8:5-8 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
See what I'm talking about? The natural human mind cannot submit to God, it is an impossibility; that is exactly where I was before God got a hold of me and made me to be born of the Spirit.
Eph 2:1-3 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Did you read that? "Carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind"; whatever my mind thought I did it without a fight; whatever my flesh dictated, I performed it without any remorse or conviction, and without any second thoughts to it; even though my conscience constantly pointed me towards God and His law, I willfully ignored it and my heart became harder and harder, little by little, until there was no remorse any more, until it became a habit and a way of life.
If the mind set on the flesh cannot submit to God, (and it is a common occurrence, it is a natural way of living for all humans, "children of wrath, like the rest of mankind"), it is obvious then that in order for the mind to be set on the Spirit, God Himself has to intervene and make that possible; check this out:
Eph 2:4-6 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--;and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus....
"But God..." That is the coolest "but" I have ever read in my life, 'but' meaning that in spite of me being dead in trespasses;and sins, He made me alive and then it became possible for me to set the mind on the Spirit, it is possible now to have life and peace; it is a fact of life for me now.
Rom 8:9-11 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
When I first read those verses and really understood what Paul was saying, it blew my mind away; I was totally overtaken with joy and awe for God; I could not stop thinking and talking about it; so much so that some brother accused me of teaching Calvinism, when I had no idea what Calvinism was; and I thank God for that interruption and for the accusation, for it caused me to find out what Calvinism is, and I came to find out that it is no more and no less than the gospel; the real gospel, the real "good news" and I love it. You can call me a Calvinist and I won't get offended, in fact I take that as a compliment.
What gives more glory to God? To say that He just gave me a chance to choose Him and that it all depends on me to make a decision, or to say that God actually gave me life (just as the bible says, see above) when I had no ability to make a choice for Him because I was dead in trespasses and sins and my mind was unable to be subject to Him and His law? It is obvious, you don't even have to think about it that hard to see the difference.
God says that He did it all, He chose me, He called me, He saved me, He gave me faith, He will sanctify me, and He will see me with Him in glory; I have done nothing to attain anything; and if He has done it all, all the glory belongs to Him alone; in fact He says that over and over "I am God, and my glory I will not share with anybody"; look it up, it's true.
When Jesus says that no one can snatch me out of His hand, it means that nothing can separate me from His love, just like Paul says in Romans 8; read it for yourself; the most appalling thing to me is that in some churches today they teach that it is all up to you; that you have to constantly try to please God and keep yourself saved, when in reality it is an impossibility to please Him apart from Christ. They even go so far as to say that you can have a "born again experience" and lose your salvation, i.e. go to hell.
Next Sunday go ask your pastor, "hey pastor Joe", or Brian or whatever his name is, "can I lose my salvation?", and hear what he has to say; and if he says that you can be lost, I recommend you walk away from that church and look for one where they teach the true gospel, where they actually teach what the bible really says. I'm just saying.
Of course I'm getting sidetracked, but what's new? At any rate of progress, I am going to leave everything there, and I really hope that I made you think; I hope I made you think about this glorious God we serve, that your mind would be put at ease knowing that you are safe in the hand of God and nothing will be able to separate you from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus; listen, you don't have to perform for Him, He knows you will fail and you will conquer, He knows and sees you already there in eternity.
When Paul says "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" he doesn't stop there, he immediately adds "for it is God who works in you to will and to perform of His good pleasure"; and "work out your salvation" does not mean that you have to constantly strive for good works, you will do good works if you are saved, that is a given, again, read Ephesians 2; For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them".
May you think glorious thoughts today and be at peace; all for His glory.
